The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiologists and health professionals on active public health threats. This issue covers the period from 14-24 August 2019 and includes updates on Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, monitoring environmental sustainability of Vibrio growth in the Baltic Sea, West Nile virus infection, haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Croatia and Slovenia, the mass gathering of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia and Listeriosis in Spain. (Erratum (26 August 2019): On pages 2 and 5 (West Nile virus infection), the figure of eight deaths in Greece (4), Cyprus (1) and Serbia (1) has been amended to four deaths in Greece (2), Cyprus (1) and Serbia (1)
The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiologists and health professionals on active public health threats. This issue covers the period from 3-9 February 2019 and includes updates on poliomyelitis, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), measles, Ebola virus disease, influenza, Salmonella Poona and Andes Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome.
ECDC promotes the performance of external quality assessment (EQA) schemes, in which laboratories are sent simulated clinical specimens or bacterial isolates for testing by routine or reference laboratory methods. EQA schemes, or laboratory proficiency testing, provide information about the accuracy of different characterisation and typing methods as well as antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) and the sensitivity of the methods in place to detect a certain pathogen or novel resistance patterns.
This report presents the results of an external quality assessment carried out in 2014 to test laboratories’ ability to correctly identify strains of Haemophilus influenzae.
Between 2000 and 2010 the annual number of reported hantavirus cases increased in Europe, although there were significant temporal and geographical fluctuations.
Prompted by the increase of hantavirus activity in Europe observed in 2012, ECDC report reviewed the preventive measures and communication strategies in European countries.
In May 2012 a collection of five strains of Haemophilus spp was sent to 28 participating reference laboratories in the IBD-labnet surveillance network for quality assurance testing. The laboratories were asked to characterise the five strains by performing standard laboratory protocols for the methods usually used by the laboratory for: species identification, biotyping and serotyping by serological methods and/or PCR.
The results of this EQA are published in the this report.
The US CDC reported an outbreak of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) associated with staying in the ’Signature Tent Cabins’ in the Boystown area of Curry Village at Yosemite National Park, California, USA.